¿Cómo lograr que un niño, y luego un adolescente, sea capaz de estar quieto observando con calma a su alrededor, capaz de esperar antes de tener, capaz de pensar, con motivación para aprender sin miedo al esfuerzo?
Los niños crecen en un entorno cada vez más frenético y exigente que, por un lado, ha hecho la tarea de educar más compleja, y, por otro, los ha alejado de lo esencial. Para su éxito futuro vemos necesario programarlos para un sinfín de actividades que los están apartando del ocio de siempre, del juego libre, de la naturaleza, del silencio, de la belleza. Su vida se ha convertido en una verdadera carrera para saltar etapas, lo que les aleja cada vez más de su propia naturaleza. Muchos niños se están perdiendo lo mejor de la vida: descubrir el mundo, adentrarse en la realidad. Un ruido ensordecedor acalla sus preguntas, las estridentes pantallas saturan sus sentidos e interrumpan el aprendizaje lento de todo lo maravilloso que hay que descubrir por primera vez.
Educar en el asombro es replantear el aprendizaje como un viaje que nace desde el interior de la persona, una aventura maravillosa facilitada por una consideración profunda de lo que reclama la naturaleza del niño, como el respeto por su inocencia, sus ritmos, su sentido del misterio y su sed de belleza.
Catherine L'Ecuyer is Canadian, now living in Barcelona with four children. She holds a law degree from Laval University, has an MBA from IESE Business School, and an Official European Master of Research. In Canada, she worked as Senior Counsel for a telecommunications company and in Spain she has taught university classes and worked as a consultant. The Swiss journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience published her article "The Wonder Approach to Learning," which established her thesis as a new hypothesis/theory of learning. In 2015, she received the Pajarita Prize from the Spanish Association of Toy Manufacturers for "promoting a culture of play in the media," and was invited to speak to the Education Commission of the Congress of Deputies of Spain and has served as a consultant to the Spanish government regarding the use of digital technology by minors and to the government of the state of Puebla in Mexico concerning preschool reform. Her first book, The Wonder Approach (22 editions in Spain), has been published in seven languages. She has also published Educar en la realidad (6 editions in Spain), on the use of digital media in childhood and adolescence. A recent video interview she did as part of the Aprendemos Juntos educational project (BBVA-El País) has received over 7 million views in the course of a few weeks. She currently collaborates with the Mind-Brain Group of the University of Navarra and is a columnist for El País, one of the most-read newspapers in Spain.
